If you run a business you know that you need to fulfill a lot of different roles. Sales, marketing, accounting, setting a strategy and vision, HR, product development, supply chain, legal, financing, etc. The younger the business, the more you have to do yourself. As the business grows, you start to offload the work to new hires. This process of working on your business is covered very well in the book “The E-Myth” that I talked about in the Favorite Business Books video.
With all the different tasks that need to be completed every day, how can an entrepreneur manage time between producing and managing? In other words, when do you “get work done” and produce content and new products and how much time do you spend managing the business?
Working “In” vs. “On”
The former is referred to as “working in the business” and the later, “working on the business.” When working in the business, you’re spending time like an employee, making things happen as if you worked there, which you do as an owner.
Often, as the owner, you must step back and take a look at the business from the outside so you can work on improving the way the business operates. This is what people mean when they say they’re working “on” the business.
Generally, people are great at one or the other and tend to gravitate to that which they like more. For example, a creative person would gravitate toward product development and content creation and neglect the accounting. On the other hand, an analytical person may prefer to spend more of their time working on the books and building forecasting spreadsheets.
It’s important to be aware of this distinction as entrepreneurs manage their time to ensure that all the tasks are given attention and not just the ones we like to work on.
Bry Cox and I discuss this and more in the video below.
When do you work “in” the business and when do you work “on” the business? How do you schedule your time? Share your method in the comments section below.
